Hi,
I am a dentist and would like to buy some camera for taking pictures of teeth of my patients. I am confused about which camera to buy. I am considering the coolpix 4500 and the kodak 6490. The coolpix 4500 has a min distance of .75 inch and the 6490 has 12 - 70cm of min distance. But 6490 has 10X zoom and 4500 has 4x zoom. CAn anyone suggest which camera to buy for to enable me to take close up of teeth. My budget is around 400$ +_ 100$. I think 4500 will be better as the min dist is .75 inch. Not sure. An y other camera suggestions are also welcome.
Thanks,
Ajay..

One of the problems you'll have trying to photograph teeth indoors is lighting.

Shutter speeds will be too slow without some kind of dedicated lighting and the camera flash will cause too much glare for this purpose.

I found a post from Lin Evans from a couple of years back mentioning theusingthe Digi-Slave RF-50 Macro Ring Flash for this purpose (it seems that it might be preferrable over the Cool-light SL-1 Macro light).

The Digi-Slave RF-50Ring Flash sells for around $200.00 online in the U.S.

The Coolpix 4500 uses 28mm filter threads. So, it looks like you'll need some kind of adapter for using a light like this (which may impact your closest focus distance). You may want to send an e-amil to srelectronics.com to ask them about how it's packaged for use with the CP 4500.

Hi Jim
Thanks for the link. The closeups are brilliant. $200 will be a bit too much to invest at present. Maybe in few months it shud be ok. Currently I am trying to buy a camera between 300-400$ which can take good close ups. So do you suggest taht CP4500 will be better than dx6490 for close ups? I was wondering if the light used for dental treatement should be good for taking closeups. I got to try and figure some cheaper lighting techniques. Thanks for the reply.
Regards,
Ajay

Hi Jim
Thanks for the link. The closeups are brilliant. $200 will be a bit too much to invest at present. Maybe in few months it shud be ok. Currently I am trying to buy a camera between 300-400$ which can take good close ups. So do you suggest taht CP4500 will be better than dx6490 for close ups? I was wondering if the light used for dental treatement should be good for taking closeups. I got to try and figure some cheaper lighting techniques. Thanks for the reply.
Regards,
Ajay

Ajay:

I don't have any experience with what it would take to do intraoral photography. However the Coolpix Swivel Bodied models like the 4500 have the best macro modes around. The Coolpix 4500can focus from around 1cm to infinity in macro mode with virtually no distortion, since the macro "sweet spot" is at around half zoom.

So, if I needed a camera for this purpose, I'd go with a Coolpix 4500, Coolpix 995, Coolpix 990; or if they weren't available, a 2MP Coolpix 950. I've still got a 950, and I've owned a 990 in the past. They are very good for macros.

They also have a feature known as "Best Shot Selector" (BSS), which allows you to press and hold the shutter button down while the camera takes multiple photos in rapid succession. When you release the shutter button, the camera automatically saves the sharpest one.

This feature won't work with flash. However, I've used it before to get sharper macro photos without using a tripod. But, you'll still need a certain amount of light, depending on how steady you hold a camera. BSS canhelp a lot, but it can't work miracles if shudder speeds are real slow.

You can also increase the ISO Speed to get faster shutter speeds (each time you double the ISO speed, the camera can use shutter speeds twice as fast). However, this will add some noise to your images (similar to film grain). If the print and viewing sizes aren't going to be real large, then the noise probably won't be too noticeable if you use this technique (but better lighting would be preferrable). The 4MP 1/1.8" CCD used in the Coolpix 4500 is one of the better ones in non-DSLR camera models when you do need to increase ISO speeds.

If you're on a tight budget, you may also want to consider a used Coolpix 990. This is a very good camera, too. It's 3 Megapixels, but I've printed many an 8x10" photo from one, and it's very doubtful that you could see increase in detail at print sizes up to about 8x10" from most printers by using a higher resolution model.